New Additions

The texas drought has really put a damper on the livestock industry in this state but there is a bright side - there are some great opportunities to build one's flock, herd or what have you. With skyrocketing hay prices, quality livestock that normally wouldn't be offered for sale, is being sold to feed the rest of the herd.

Yesterday I made a pleasurable drive out to Yantis TX to Brent Neighbors, Tejas Barbados Ranch in search of a couple of new additions to my painted desert flock. I was nicely surprised by the 120 mile drive -it goes through rural towns but most of the way was 70 mph so I was able to make good time and enjoy the scenery which was surprisingly picturesque. The trees are still displaying beautiful fall colors, and with the recent rain we've had the winter wheat is greening up the fields.

Brent had my list of prospects with him when I arrived along with pedigrees and papers (he really knows how to organize his records). No this sheep might be by so and so or maybe it's that one with Brent.

I was in search of just one or two ewes and one for a friend. It wasn't hard to pick out a few nice prospects -what was hard was deciding which ones to bring home. Even harder was picking out one for my friend -she had narrowed her choice down to two based on pictures. Both were nice but I opted for the Yearling ewe lamb of one of her two picks hoping she'd like her as much.

With no further ado, here are the new additions:

I fell in love with this champagne and white ewe, Tejas Ranch Aleshanee Tiponi when I saw her. She wasn't on my list I'd picked out to see but one look and I knew she was coming home with me. She has all the qualities I like in an Ewe (built like a holstein cow, soft eye and strong legs) and to boot she is heavy in lamb to a lovely ram of Brents "Kachada" .

Tejas Ranch Aleshanee Tiponi

My other pick was Tejas Ranch Santana Sayen. Her dam is a really good producer and she is tri-colored, and also a twin. She's a little smaller than I'd like but judging from the triplets nursing on her dam there is potential for some size in her offspring. She is also heavy in lamb to Red Cloud who I really like.

Tejas Ranch Santana Sayen

And last but not least is Taksi Wahinhe, the young ewe I bought for my friend. Funnily enough -I bought the wrong ewe. She had told me to pick between Totsi and Hiawatha and somewhere along the line I changed Totsi to Taksi...It's so hard to pick for someone else. I like this ewe, so home she came! Of course when I arrived home with the three sheep my daughter peared into the car and says " I oh I like that one" meaning Taksi, the only one that's not supposed to stay!

Taksi Wahinhe